The purpose of the organization is to develop staging classifications for cancer of all anatomical sites. The procedure in many cases involves retrospective studies by task forces assigned to specific anatomical sites. In addition, data collection forms are developed for each anatomical site and are published for use by others desiring to carry out prospective studies. An effort is made to stimulate the medical profession to accurately and uniformly record extent of disease where cancer patients are under treatment, to provide uniform data for analyses from a large number of institutions.